Great Challenges of The Fly's Generation

Hey, folks. Busy night last night, and lots to do this morning, so just news today.

President Obama and Afghanistan:

Obama orders Afghanistan troop buildup (CNN, Guardian, Wired)

BBC: Nato pledges 5,000 Afghan troops; Times: McChrystal welcomes surge as Nato pledges troops; AFP: French cautious on more troops for Afghanistan, France open to more training, aid for Afghanistan - NATO has been the weak link in the Afghan fight since the 2001 invasion, and I find it difficult to muster any newfound confidence in their pledges.

Guardian: Barack Obama's Churchill moment - Leave it to someone writing for The Guardian to compare President Obama to Winston Churchill. Ladies and gentlemen, President Obama is no Winston Churchill; he's nothing like Winston Churchill.

Guardian: Not a surge but a ripple in Afghanistan - "If this is a counter-insurgency strategy, even with these extra troops from the US and UK, it's woefully undermanned." And how.

AFP: Obama struggles with Afghan exit dilemma - The fact that he's talking about pulling troops out of Afghanistan prior to the end of the 2009-2013 presidential term demonstrates that President Obama has no understanding of this conflict whatsoever, and that he's ignoring what his generals and other experts are telling him.

To quote a recent article by Michael Yon:

We ask Afghans for help in defeating the enemies, yet the Afghans expect us to abandon them. Importantly, Mr. Filkins pointed out that Afghans don’t like to see Americans living in tents. Tents mean nomads. It would be foolish for Afghans in “Talibanastan” to cooperate with nomadic Americans only to be eviscerated by the Taliban when the nomads pack up. (How many times did we see this happen in Iraq?) The Afghans want to see us living in real buildings as a sign of permanency. The British at Sangin and associated bases live in temporary structures as is true with American bases in many places. Our signals are clear. “If you are coming to stay,” Afghans have told me in various ways, “build a real house.” “Build a real office.” “Don’t live in tents.” We saw nearly the opposite in Iraq where pressure evolved to look semi-permanent. The Dr. Jekyll–Mr. Hyde situation in Iraq seemed to seriously catch hold by 2006 or 2007, by which time Iraqis realized we were not going to steal oil and might decide to pull out while leaving them ablaze in civil war.

In other words, by setting such short-term time tables for withdrawal, President Obama is effectively ceding the conflict to the Taliban and al Qaeda.

"Global Warming"/"Climate Change":

[Australian] Senate rejects Rudd climate plan (BBC, Guardian, Times); Times: Australia gives carbon scheme one last try - The fact that the Australians have effectively stopped this climate change debacle right in its tracks in their own country could be a great harbinger of things to come in other nations. We can only hope that the U.S. Congress will see the handwriting on the wall and back off on the Cap and Trade/"Cap and Tax" push, which is guaranteed to do nothing but cripple an already weak American economy.

Fox: Facing Scandal, Head of Climate Research Lab to Temporarily Step Down

Guardian: 'Do you feel uncomfortable travelling between various homes in various continents at enormous carbon cost?' - Apparently the host of the Newsnight program effectively called Sting, one of the most ardent environmentalists in show business, out on the carpet for his huge carbon footprint. Very, very interesting.

Times: Cost of fighting global warming 'to double' - The question is quickly becoming whether or not we should adjust to climate change (if it even exists), or spend ourselves into poverty and chaos in futile attempts to change the weather. I prefer cool climates, but if the world is destined to get warmer, I'm more eager to deal with the natural fallout from global warming (if it even exists) than watch as the generation or two ahead of mine destroy any chance at me and my children and my grandchildren having any sort of a future. As a recent Heritage Foundation lecture pointed out, the proposed "cure" is worse than the alleged disease.

The Jefferson Hour: The Fraudulent Attack on “Clean Coal” - Have They Been to Stanton?

Everything Else:

Ahmadinejad: Russia 'made a mistake' in IAEA vote (CNN, AFP)

CNN: UN halts funds to China wind farms

BBC: Uzbekistan withdraws from Central Asian power grid - Apparently, the Uzbeks are withdrawing from a Soviet-era power grid that serves Central Asia's former Soviet republics. Somewhat interesting.

BBC: Libya sentences Swiss men to jail - Crazy Uncle Moammar is still pissed about his son Hannibal being arrested last year when he got into some brawls in Switzerland.

BBC: Google to limit free news access

Guardian: Moving towards a united Christianity

Times: Technology ‘must drive global emissions cuts’ - 'New chairman of BP says businesses must take lead in cutting wastage and demand for domestic and international travel.' - Works for me. The solution to environmental challenges is greater efficiency, rather than punishing business in countries that actually make an effort to reduce pollution.

AFP: Northrop, Airbus threaten to pull out of tanker bid: Pentagon - Oh, this could get really, really interesting.

AFP: Game theorists hope to solve world's crises - Yeah, 'cause that worked really well for the Department of Defense from 1991 through 2003.

Have a great Thursday, folks, and check back tomorrow for more.